Ansonia Mayor David Cassetti peers in to the former Ansonia Copper & Brass at 75 Liberty Street in Ansonia, Conn. on Monday, July 28, 2014. The property is one of many in the city that the mayor hopes to sell for redevelopment.

The Ansonia Technology Park, left, and Farrell Process Laboratory on East Main Street in downtown Ansonia, Conn. on Monday, July 28, 2014. The city is looking to develop both industrial buildings as residential properties.

Ansonia Mayor David Cassetti stands across the Naugatuck River from the former Ansonia Copper & Brass property in Ansonia, Conn. on Monday, July 28, 2014. The property is one of many in the city that the mayor hopes to sell for redevelopment.

Ansonia Mayor David Cassetti announces the city obtained a $500,000 state grant to be used in redeveloping abandoned industrial buildings and brown fields. Aldermanic President Phil Tripp, left, State Rep. Linda Gentile and State Sen. Joseph Crisco, right, who helped secure the funding attended the announcement which was held at the vacant Palmer Building at 153 Main Street in Ansonai, Conn. on Monday July 28, 2014.

ANSONIA -- Standing atop a manmade bluff on Riverside Drive, Mayor David Cassetti sees a convention center where businessmen could meet and teams could play basketball and hockey.

He sees it surrounded by specialty shops and gourmet restaurants. He envisions an access road leading to Route 8.

"There's so much potential here," he said.

Staring back at him, at least for now, are 44 acres of decrepit, deteriorating and deserted buildings owing at least $800,000 in taxes. Once known as Anaconda American Brass, the complex employed thousands working three shifts, seven days a week, as recently as the 1970s.

"Those days are long gone," said Cassetti, whose own Birm1 Construction Company is located in sparkling headquarters across the street.

After several name changes at what had been Anaconda, the last brass workers were let go a few months ago.

"Those buildings have got to come down," Cassetti said Monday.

A $500,000 grant pushed through the State Bond Commission on Friday by state Rep. Linda Gentile, D-Ansonia, and state Sen. Joseph Crisco, D-Woodbridge, may help the city begin to achieve that goal. The money is to be used to pay for plans, acquisition, renovation and possibly demolition of up to 60 acres of former factory buildings.

Part of a bigger vision

In addition to the former American Brass building, other sites targeted for the funding include the city-owned Palmer Building at 153 Main St., and the adjoining Ansonia Technology Park at 497 E. Main St. Some money could be used for roadwork on the new Fountain Lake Industrial Park being built by Robert Scinto.

Ansonia is not alone in attempting to deal with brownfields left behind when manufacturing fled the state as China, Mexico and India began exporting steel, copper and brass at cheaper prices.

Last week, Bridgeport received $2.75 million to begin planning work on a second railroad station on the arson-plagued former Remington Arms site. Plans are pushing ahead in Stratford for apartments and retail development on site of the 77-acre former Army Engine Plant, which closed in 1995. Derby is struggling to renovate its downtown and nearby vacant factory sites.

While skies threatened overhead during Monday morning's grant announcement, Cassetti could envision the ground around him getting brighter with the influx of state money.

"Ansonia is open for business," he said. "There is untapped potential here for manufacturers, commercial businesses and even residential development."

Incoming businesses

He pointed to two popular downtown restaurants -- Crave, which is expanding on Main Street, and Antonio's, where a visit from Snooki of "Jersey Shore" fame put the eatery on the map -- as opportunities for those willing to take a chance.

His vision, though, calls for more of a face transplant. In addition to a convention center on the factory complex, Cassetti said he would like to see Ansonia Copper and Brass' water-damaged, lead-paint-laced and asbestos-filled headquarters demolished and rebuilt as a grocery store and apartments.

The mayor sees the five-story brick Palmer Building, which once housed an elastic factory, and its adjoining Ansonia Technology Park being renovated into apartments. He sees a new downtown railroad station with trains running more frequently from Bridgeport to Waterbury, transporting Valley residents to their Fairfield County jobs.

This spring, Cassetti unveiled plans for apartments, a new police headquarters, an emergency response facility and a community center in place of the soon-to-be-demolished, crime-ridden Riverside Apartments public housing complex on Olson Drive.

The mayor said his staff is ready to "remediate, repurpose and even demolish structures that don't fit with the future needs of our city."

Since taking office in December, Cassetti, a lifelong Ansonia resident and first-term mayor, convinced nine businesses to relocate, mostly into vacant downtown storefronts. These include Mustang Sally's and the Pantry, which filled the former Tanner Restaurant site on East Main Street; TnJ Hair Design, which took a section of the former Pilgrim Bar-B-Que building at 375 Main St.; and the American Federal Credit Union and Urgent Care Center, which filled vacant storefronts on Main Street. Two more businesses are expected to come in the next few weeks.

Funding flexibility

Cassetti's biggest coup may have been luring Better Packaging to move from downtown Shelton into space in Ansonia's Hershey Drive Industrial Park.

"You have to give a lot of credit to the mayor," O'Malley said. "He's so enthusiastic and energetic in promoting the city. It's contagious. People want to come in and talk to him."

Gentile, who commended O'Malley's work in applying for the $500,000 grant, said the money will help the city "explore options for the redevelopment and reuse of nearly 60 acres of industrial property that is currently lying fallow in what many years ago used to be a vibrant downtown."

Gentile said the grant, combined with new state brownfield legislation, will encourage developers to look at some of the vacant factory sites. Should they decide to purchase a site, the new law allows them to remediate, rebuild and rent them in sections.

O'Malley said the money would never have come without Gentile's and Crisco's help. She said the grant's stipulations provide enough flexibility to allow money to be used in various ways, including brownfield assessment, demolition, planning and reconstruction.

For instance, O'Malley said, grant money could be used to deal with the lack of parking at the Palmer site.

"What we need to do is secure off-site parking or create new parking for them," she said. "These are things we need to work out, and this money could help us do that."